Young Adult is vicious and hilarious. Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman, who first teamed up for Juno, deliver a sardonic sequel of sorts. I was surprised that Patton Oswalt was so likeable as such a cynical character and that Charlize could be so unlikeable but still likeable enough for you to root for her to get her shit straight. From the twisted hair to the shotgunned Diet Coke, it was painful to watch – but painful was exactly what it was supposed to be.
The 90’s soundtrack to Young Adult is as good as the movie. Teenage Fanclub is one of those bands that not enough people discovered. Bandwagonesque was one of my favorite albums of the 90s. The opening track, “The Concept,” serves as the theme song for Young Adult. It plays a half-dozen times during the drive from Minneapolis to Mercury at the beginning of the movie and is also the first song played by Buddy’s wife’s band at the bar.
Woody’s bar also has one hell of a background soundtrack. From Lemonheads to Dinosaur Jr. to Cracker, it’s as if Woody found a mixtape from my so called 90’s life. It’s good – damn good.
Even the background muzak is on point. Beck’s Where It’s At and Pearl Jam’s Even Flow are tucked into the film, the latter as the sounds of the awkward department store scene.
Here’s the complete list of all 17 songs from Young Adult with notes on the scenes that the songs were in:
Talking outside with Matt at Woody’s, waiting for taxi – Feel The Pain – Dinosaur Jr
Young girl singing on TV show, playing with hair in hotel room – We’ve Only Just Begun – Roger Nichols and Paul Williams (link to original by Carpenters)
There’s nothing 50/50 about the soundtrack to the movie 50/50, except for the studio not releasing an album. It’s a collection of 19 great songs that suit the movie well and help tell it’s story. From both the sound and intonation of Radiohead’s “High and Dry” when Adam finds out he has cancer, to the resolution told through the sounds of Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter,” the music is in 50/50 tells the story of Adam and his life. The story is based on the real life struggles of Seth Rogen’s best friend – and you could hear the soundtrack to his days in the songs chosen to bring that fact into fiction.
Using Roy Orbison’s “Crying” to tell the tale of a crazy ex-girlfriend who you aren’t crying at all for anymore was perfect. As was throwing the Bee Gees into the pot-laden macaroons that got Adam through chemo. If I ever choose to shave my head, I think I will have to dial up a reggae tune as well. The irony of celebrating shaving your locks to a genre more popularly known for celebrating them (and imbuing them), is too much to pass on.
There were a number of new songs and artists that the 50/50 soundtrack introduced me too as well. I’ll be looking for more from Mr. Little Jeans and Liars Inc. from here on out. [Any recommendations on where to start?]
As for the movie itself, I really enjoyed it. It’s kind of hard to say you enjoy a movie about cancer, but this was a good one. Seth Rogen showed that he could un-Seth – a bit – and Anna Kendrick continued to steal the show for every movie she’s in. I even loved seeing good ole Max Headroom / Matt Frewer in there – and felt for him too.
Here’s the complete list of songs from 50/50, including notes on the scenes they were in. They
Every once in a while someone reminds me of a movie that I love completely but haven’t thought of in a while. Usually that leads to a couple hours of looking back and listening to the songs from the movie. That happened today. I haven’t seen Love Actually since last Christmas or so, but I’m going to have to see if its on Netflix streaming because I can’t get the movie or the music out of my head.
Thankfully, YouTube has some of my favorite scenes from the movie, including the final scene when everyone is meeting their loved ones at the airport and the school concert where the son is playing the drums while the girl he has a crush on is singing All I Want for Christmas. At first he thinks she is singing to him, but then she points to everyone. He has such a look of heartbreak. But then, she turns and sings to him again. The twists and turns of the heart, captured in the innocence of young love.
The video is disabled for editing, but you watch it on YouTube by clicking on the picture here:
This is what I would call a perfect song in a perfect scene. The lyrics “and you, and you, and you” provide the perfect cadence to build him up, tear him down and then build him up again. It’s a classic song made new. I will never be able to hear any version of it again without thinking of this particular scene.
The final scene features the song God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, another amazing song.
Here’s the complete list of songs from the movie. I hope you enjoy the songs and call into work late tomorrow because you stayed up late into the night watching this incredible movie.
From the opening chords of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, when the Universal theme song is played in video game tones, I knew this movie would be amazing. The rest of the movie did not disappoint, either in the music, the story or in the way in which it’s told. It’s a brilliant movie – one of my favorites from the past couple years. It’s a shame that more people didn’t see it, because I would have loved to have seen the rest of the story told on film.
There are 36 songs in Scott Pilgrim, including songs from Frank Black, Plumtree, Black Lips, Beck, Metric, Queen, Broken Social Scene and The Rolling Stones. And of course, there’s Sex Bob-Omb, the band at the center of the movie, that Michael Cera plays bass for.
My favorite song from Scott Pilgrim is probably Black Sheep by Metric and Brie Larson. It’s the song that The Clash at Demonhead plays when Sex Bob-Omb opens for them. I also enjoyed the use of a range of Ramona songs from Frank Black, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Beck and Michael Cera, singing solo as Scott Pilgrim, not as Sex Bob-Omb.
Here’s Black Sheep. The song kicks into gear about 35 seconds in.
Beck wrote all six songs by Sex Bob-Omb in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as well as a few other tunes in the movie. The movie itself is like a Beck song – odd, visceral and irresistible. Beck is one of those artists that perpetually surprises me in the way he is able to layer different sounds onto each other. I remember reading that his grandfather was a collage artist. His music sounds like an aural collage, so it makes sense. What Beck does with a song, Edgar Wright has done with film. He creates a celluloid palimpsest, layering allusions atop the music, video games and pop culture referenced in the film.
Michael Cera’s range of random t-shirts is also worth the show. The SP Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt was one of my favorites from high school. It got me through some times indeed. The song By Your Side is a throwback to another time as well. Here’s the version by Beachwood Sparks from the movie. I prefer the original by Sade, but this version has a haunting hollow that is fitting.
Here’s the complete list of all 36 songs from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World in the order the appeared in the movie and with notes on the scenes they were in. If you just watched Scott Pilgrim and are seeking out the music from the movie, I hope this post helps. If you’ve found the post first, you should find the film and set yourself to watching it. You will enjoy it for sure.
And if you’re wondering where the title of the post comes from, check out these quotes from Scott Pilgrim.
First song at band practice with Knives visiting – We Are Sex Bob-Omb – Sex Bob-Omb
Scott’s apartment, tells his roommate he’s dating a 17 year old – Scott Pilgrim – Plumtree
The soundtrack for Horrible Bosses is anything but horrible. It includes songs from Spoon, Beastie Boys, Ting Tings, Money Mark and Dirty Heads. The soundtrack album is another thing entirely – it only includes one of the songs from the movie. The rest is just the Horrible Bosses score by Christopher Lennertz. Not to worry, we’ve pulled together all 17 songs from the movie together here.
My favorite music moment in Horrible Bosses was the use of Sabotage when Nick was thinking about throwing Harken out the window.
The most hilarious music moment was when Dale was singing That’s Not My Name in the car outside Harken’s house. I also liked the use of Spoon’s Underdog at both the beginning of the movie and during the end credits. Lay Me Down by the Dirty Heads was only playing in the background during the bar scene when the guys were talking about killing their bosses, but hearing it reminded me how good the song is.
In order to figure out the songs in each scene in any movie, including Horrible Bosses, I have to take pen and paper into the theater. I get more than a few strange looks when I do, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Tonight, I forgot a notepad and my pen wouldn’t work, so I had to try to remember the scenes that the songs played in after getting back home. My brain mushed the scenes a bit. I have all the songs from Horrible Bosses, and they are in the right order, but there are a couple gaps in the scenes.
The movie itself is hysterical – across the board. Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis are hilarious. And Jennifer Aniston was completely unexpected in how funny she was. Her character is so far from usual that everything she says is that much funnier than if someone else was delivering the line. It was so funny, in fact, that I think I might just have to go back and see it again. This time I’ll bring a pen that works. With the song list already in hand, I should be able to fill out the rest of the list.
Opening scene through the first couple minutes – The Underdog – Spoon
Nick, Dale and Kurt at the bar – Crazy – Booker T. Jones
Bright Star is a quiet, beautiful film, tragic in the life and death of a man so fearful of living. Keats wouldn’t even allow his name to be placed on his tombstone. Instead, he asked that is say: “Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water”. Now, it is written hauntingly in film as well.
Jane Campion has written and directed a gorgeous film – one of the best I’ve seen in the last couple years. It’s a shame it took so long to watch it. I encourage you to do so. It’s quite the counterpoint to the popcorn cinema in theaters now. Encore is playing the film right now and you can pick it up from Netflix too.
Most of the music in the movie Bright Star is comprised of a quiet, pensive score by Mark Bradshaw that incorporates the poems of Keats directly, including Ode to the Nightengale playing over the end credits. I also enjoyed the Human Orchesta, which is comprised of a half dozen men singing music notes in the middle of the film. Here’s the song:
As for the actual songs in the movie, there are three, including two songs by Mozart and another from Wilson, written in 1816, and featured in an album of period music labeled the era of Jane Austen. Here are the songs:
There are 15 songs in Transformers Dark of the Moon as well as an additional 8 songs that are on the soundtrack album but weren’t actually in the movie. In fact, there are only three songs from the movie on the soundtrack album, which is a damn shame because there are a number of really good songs that the album completely misses. Among the songs missing from the Transformers Dark of the Moon soundtrack are U2’s North Star, Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion and Biffy Clyro’s Many of Horror (live version below).
And here’s U2. I can’t find the download for the song North Star, but I hope a live version via video suffices:
I liked Transformers 3 better than the second movie but not quite as much as the first. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is an apt replacement for Megan Fox. She walks on screen and stares through the scene just as well. I was actually a bit surprised that her part was as big as it was.
While the producers of Transformers Dark of the Moon may have fallen for Rosie, the music producers were smitten with two songs in particular, playing them repeatedly throughout the movie. U2’s North Star is the first song in the movie, playing when Carlye gives Sam a stuffed animal bunny rabbit. It also plays when Sam visits Carlye at work. Linkin Park’s Iridescent plays when Sam and the crew are driving to Chicago to save Carlye and also as the first song during the end credits.
Here’s the complete list of songs from Transformers 3 along with notes on the scenes they were in. Enjoy!
Carlye gives Sam a stuffed bunny – North Star – U2
Little Autobots watching Star Trek – More Soup from Stark Trek Amok Theme – Gerald Fried
Little Autobot starts singing – We Are Family – Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers
Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Tony Shalhoub and Vincent D’Onofrio starring in a movie based on a Philip K. Dick story. Impostor should be a good movie; instead, it’s a sham of a movie and a shell of what the original story was.
Musically, Impostor started out right. I wasn’t expecting to hear John Lee Hooker in a movie set in 2079, but was pleasantly surprised by it. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Pretty funny given that the movie is about a guy who is supposedly carrying enough Centauri C4 to blow up half of a city. Unfortunately, the cleverness of the movie ended there – it went from bomb to bust.
After a few piss poor special effects, Impostor shifts to a few scenes that are supposed to make you care about the future Earth by displaying emotional scenes that we can relate to today – young love and motherhood. Just your average shuttle ride featuring teens making out next to a mother breastfeeding her child. A little bit forced on the sentimentality. Or maybe that’s just the piano score that seems a bit forced.
I usually love movies, oarticularly sci-fi films about identity, but this one was a dud. Whichever cast of characters rated this four out of five stars on Netflix needs a bit more supernova in their lives. If you were tempted to watch this, watch Moon instead. A much better choice on the sci-fi list.
I won’t make bad space jokes anymore. I’ll just leave you with the music. There were three songs in the movie Impostor. I suppose that’s more than most future apocalyptic alien invasion movies. They were better than the movie itself as well as Isham’s score.
There are six songs in The Adjustment Bureau, including two from Richard Ashcroft, former frontman of The Verve. Lucky Man is still one of my favorite songs, so needless to say, I was excited to hear Ashcroft in the movie. The Ashcroft songs are bookends for The Adjustment Bureau. The first, “Future’s Bright,” opens the movie as David Norris is running for the senate. The latter, “Are You Ready?,” appears during the end credits.
I had the same verve of a reaction when I realized that The Adjustment Bureau was based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. There are a great many of his stories that have been turned into movies – Blade Runner and Total Recall are at the top of the list for me. I’d put Adjustment Bureau near there as well – certainly higher than Next and Paycheck – maybe somewhere near Minority Report. The movie kind of reminded me of The Candidate, if it were told by JJ Abrams within a dream in which Frank Capra was telling a tall tale.
Besides the two songs from Ashcroft, the rest of the soundtrack for The Adjustment Bureau is a ragtag bunch, including a remix of Fever and a tune from They Might Be Giants, each good in their own right, but making for an interesting mix here. I could not for the life of me figure out where the They Might Be Giants song was in the movie, nor where the Gleedsville song was either. Sorry for the holes in the scene list. Perhaps my viewing experience was adjusted for the chairman’s shits and giggles. Google gave me no more relief.
The score for the movie is appropriately pensive, with a little bit of clarinet, followed by a slow guitar and strings. It paints a lush landscape – one where your brain may wander unto itself, asking questions about free will and those purposeful accidents that have made you who you are today. My favorite line from the movie came early, after Norris accidentally sees an adjustment happening. He is sitting in the bar trying to remember Elise’s number. Harry tells him: “your entire world just turned upside down and you’re thinking about a woman”. This could describe any number of scenes from a Matt Damon movie. It could also capture what makes us fundamentally human, and subject to the tantrums of fate. Love.
What would you do? Risk your life and hers? Choose a destiny of promise or make a promise that destiny says you can’t keep? Would you counter that clock and turn the door opposite?
While you decide, take a look at the complete list of all six songs from The Adjustment Bureau Soundtrack. I was able to figure out which scenes for of the six songs were in. If you can figure out where the They Might Be Giants song is in the movie, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Opening, candidate for senate – Future’s Bright – Richard Ashcroft
(unknown scene) – Let Your Body Loose – Gleedsville
They didn’t release a Bad Teacher soundtrack album, but you can find all 23 songs from Bad Teacher, plus the downloads for them, here. The soundtrack is pretty much what you’d think, including a good collection of metal and hair band songs, from Judas Priest, Ronnie James Dio, Whitesnake and Joan Jett.
But there’s also an odd streak in there too, kind of like the movie itself. The soundtrack is rounded out with music from Coolio, Rooney, JT and Hall & Oates.
And what movie is complete without a little Schlittenfahrt, which as far as I can tell is an actual German Christmas song. Please, correct me if I’m wrong. The album cover looks pretty legit. A little Google Translator and, what do you know, it means sleigh ride. Well, that’s fun. The movie itself was fun at times, but dragged a bit too. I found it funny, then not funny, funny, then not funny. Not bad for a popcorn movie but I don’t think it will be jumping to the top of my queue anytime soon.
There are also some great songs in the trailers/commercials for Bad Teacher, including:
Beggin – Madcon (this song was popularized in the Step Up 3D soundtrack)
Stroke Me – Mickey Avalon (this song samples the 80s song Strokin by Billy Squire. Mickey Avalon had his big movie break when his song “What Do You Say?” was featured in the pool scene of the first Hangover.)
Here’s White Snake in all their hair band glory:
Watch out for Joan Jett, she’s a Real Wild Child:
I don’t quite get the subtitles in this concert footage, but it’s Hall & Oates, so you can’t go wrong:
And last but not least, it’s Rooney singing I Can’t Get Enough:
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